Earth Angel

Chapter Twelve

(Later...)

Chloe returned home from school and immediately went upstairs to her room.  She threw her books on the desk and sat on the edge of the bed.  The red light on her answering machine was flashing so she leaned forward and hit the button.

"BEEP... Hey Jan, this is Brady. I thought you'd be home from school already, but I guess not.  Give me a call when you get in, if you feel like it.  Bye..."

The machine beeped again and spat the time out in an electronic voice, "Monday, 3:01 p.m."

Chloe glanced at the clock and noticed it was now 5:00, so she reached over and dialed the number to the Black penthouse.

It rang twice before being picked up.  "Hello."

"Brady... hello."

"Jan... what's up?"

"Well, you called me, so what's up with you?"

"Yeah... why weren't you home?"

Chloe twirled the cord around one finger and smiled.  "Awww, that's so sweet.  You're checking up on me.  Either that or you're obsessive and sick.  Anyway, I have to work in the office during third period and after school, so I won't get home until 5 or 5:30 most nights."

"I am not checking up on you, nor am I obsessive and sick.  I just wanted to see if you were busy tonight."

"Nope, I'm not.  Light to minimum chance of homework, so I'm pretty much free.  Why do you ask?"

"Thought I'd come over and say hello.  That is... unless you're sick of having me around."

Chloe broke into a wide smile and replied, "I could never get sick of you."

Chloe paused and let the cord slip from her finger.  She fearfully realized what that statement might have implied to Brady, and couldn't imagine from where inside of her that it had come from.

Brady paused on his end, as if he too were trying to decipher it's meaning.  He broke the silence with a chuckle and spoke, "Just you wait.  Everybody gets sick of me eventually."

Chloe quietly breathed a sigh of relief.  She didn't want to lead Brady on, especially at a time when she wasn't even sure of what she was feeling.

"Well, until I DO get sick of you, just come on over.  Benjamin will let you in, then just come upstairs... I'll be in my room studying."

"Okay then... I've got a couple things to do here, so I'll see you in about an hour."

"Alright then.  Bye."  Chloe hung up the phone but left her hand on the receiver.  She tried to shake off the idea that she or Brady might be beginning to think of each other as more than friends.  It was impossible, she told herself, she still loved Phillip and Brady still loved his mystery girl.  Or at least she thought that she loved Phillip, but now she was beginning to doubt that she even knew what true love was.

***

(One hour later...)

Chloe was laid out on her bed with her schoolbooks surrounding her, flipping through the latest chapter in her government book.  She heard a soft knocking at the door and shut the book.

"Come on in..."

Brady opened the door slowly and grinned as he stepped into her room.  "Soooo, this is the inner sanctum of Jan Spears?"

Chloe sat up and straightened her clothes out.  "That's right... you've never been up here.  I usually don't let you past the living room or the kitchen."

Brady nodded proudly.  "Then I must have passed the trust test... You're letting a man you hardly know into your bedroom."

Chloe rolled her eyes and chuckled.  "Don't worry, Brady... I don't think of you that way."

"As someone you hardly know?"

Chloe shook her head.  "No, as a man."

Brady placed one hand over his heart mockingly, as if he had been shot down.  "Ouch.  That hurt.  That really hurt."

Chloe smiled widely, very proud of herself.  "So, what brings you here anyway?"

Brady smiled and winked at her.  "Well, I didn't come here to be mocked.  I came here to see if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight."

Chloe paused for a moment and furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.  "I don't know, Brady... we shouldn't..."

Brady interrupted, lost in his own confused state.  "What?  You don't eat anymore?  I know that you high school girls like to watch your weight, but a little dinner isn't going to kill you."

"No, it's not that... it's just... you're not asking me on a date, are you?"

Brady started to blush and took a step backwards.  "Jan... no, I'm not.  Don't be silly.  We're friends, and friends can go eat together without it being more than that.  Right?"

Chloe cringed and felt her face flush bright red.  Damn Shawn and Belle for putting those thoughts in her head today, she thought to herself.  "Oh, I am SUCH an idiot.  How could I even think that?  I'm sorry, Brady... Just smack me in the head next time I get out of line."

Brady laughed and replied, "That's okay.  I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea.  But, now that I've been mocked and you've been embarrassed, we can call it even.  Now... about that dinner?"

Chloe half-smiled and stood from the bed.  "Okay, okay... I AM hungry, I just wasn't going to be if you wanted to feel me up afterwards or something."

Brady laughed and again and grabbed her hand.  "Don't worry, I'm only taking you to the Brady Pub.  I only expect to cop a feel if I take you to Tuscany or something."

Chloe's eyes widened suddenly and Brady winked at her again.  "Just kidding, Jan."

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief and followed him downstairs.

***

(At the Brady Pub...)

Chloe and Brady sat across from each other in a booth at the pub, both perusing their menus intently.

"So, Jan... Have you ever been here before?"

Chloe paused and tried to remember if she had ever seen Jan here, but figured Jan wasn't the type to hang out at a pub and replied, "Uhm, no... not really.  It's owned by Shawn's grandparents, right?"

"Uh-huh.  And they have the best cheeseburgers in the entire town of Salem.  Maybe even the entire world."

"I don't eat red meat... but I'm sure they are fabulous."

Brady shook his head shamefully as he had done so many times before when witnessing Chloe order a veggie burger or something made with turkey.  He turned his attention back to his menu and muttered under his breath, "Weird..."

Chloe tried to suppress her laughter and laid her menu down on the table.  She swallowed the laugh in her throat as Caroline Brady came to their table.

"Hey there... good evening, Brady.  How are you?"

Brady laid his menu down and smiled at Caroline.  "Hi, Mrs. Brady.  I'm pretty good.  This is my friend, Jan... she goes to school with Shawn and Belle."

Caroline smiled sweetly at Chloe and spoke, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Jan.  Any friend of Brady Black's is welcome here any time."

Chloe smiled widely at her.  She had always had the utmost respect for Caroline, as did everyone else who knew her.  "Thanks, Mrs. Brady... it's nice to meet you too.  Shawn talks about you all the time."

"That's my grandson, he's such a sweetie... So, have you two figured out what you're going to order yet?"

Brady grinned and nodded.  "I have.  I'll have my usual burger, fries and shake.  Jan?"

"Uhmmmm... I'll have a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, and a salad with Italian dressing, no cucumbers, and a diet coke, please."

Caroline grabbed their menus and nodded, "You got it.  Coming right up."  She turned quickly and headed back towards the kitchen.

Chloe looked back at Brady who was staring at her with one eyebrow raised.  "No cucumbers?"

She shifted nervously in her seat and shrugged her shoulders.  "So?  I'm allergic..."  Or at least my old body was, she thought to herself.

Brady's expression seemed to change and suddenly cloud over.  "Chloe was too.  In fact, you just ordered the same exact thing that she did the last time we came here together.  That's so... odd."

Chloe paused, it was almost as if Brady had seen a ghost, and the expression on his face made her somewhat uneasy.  She kept reverting back to her old Chloe-like habits without realizing that it might freak people out. 

She decided to try and lighten the moment with a sly grin and a remarked, "Brady... do you know what is the most odd about that?"

Brady shrugged, still in shock.  "I don't know... what?"

"That you would REMEMBER the exact thing that Chloe would order down to the 'no cucumbers' and the Diet Coke.  I can't remember what I ate yesterday, much less what I ate with someone three weeks ago."

"I have an eye for detail, okay?"

"Or, you're just weird."

Brady broke his seriousness with a laugh and threw his napkin at her.  "Hey, don't call me weird.  I'm not the one who won't eat a cheeseburger like any other red-blooded American would."

Chloe laughed and threw his napkin back to him.  "I don't like food that moos, okay?"

"But gobble gobble gobble is just fine with you?"

"Yeah, well... I can't explain it.  Leave me alone."  Chloe crossed her arms and pouted slightly.

Brady nodded and took a sip of his water.  "Ahh, the mature, dignified way to go about it.  Pout, pout, pout."

Chloe tried to hold her pout for as long as she could, but eventually gave in to the silly faces that Brady was making at her.

"Fine, you win... I'm a big vegetarian hypocrite.  So, on to something else... what do you wanna do after this?  I really don't have much homework, thanks to Mimi getting me caught up, just get me home in time for my beauty rest."

Brady checked his watch and gasped.  "Beauty rest?  We better get you home right away then..."

Chloe rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.  "Ha ha.  Very funny.  But seriously... do you know how to ice skate?"

"Ice skate?  Only because of hockey, don't think that I'm into all that frou-frou Dorothy Hamill crap."

Chloe chuckled and nodded.  "Then... Ice-skating it is.  It's the only cool thing to do in winter around here anyway."

Brady paused thoughtfully and pointed at her with one finger.  "Wait a second... don't you like need a note from your doctor or something?"

"Well, my physical therapist encourages movement, just not overextension or like being bent over for an extended period of time... that's why mopping floors is out.  But, exercise is a must.  Besides, I feel great really and I'm healing pretty fast... as long as I don't try triple lutz myself into the next county, I think I can handle it.  Just a couple times around and we'll go home."

"Good... I just wanted to make sure I won’t have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the emergency room when you throw your back out."

Chloe laughed and muttered under her breath, "You wish..."

Brady didn't have a chance to retort as the waitress came and laid down their orders.  They hungrily dug into them, and spent most of their meal in idle chit-chat or in silence.

***

(Post skating...)

Chloe sat on a bench at the edge of the rink untying her ice skates.  She hurriedly stuffed her chilly feet back into her shoes and put the skates aside.  Brady came walking up from behind her and put a Styrofoam cup in front of her face.

Chloe took it from his hand and examined it closely.  "Wow.  Hot chocolate with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon.  How did you know that was my favorite?"

Brady sat down beside her with his own cup in hand and shrugged.  "You're allergic to cucumbers."

Chloe laughed and gave him a strange glance.  "And this was how Chloe liked her hot chocolate too?"

"Yeah..."  Brady nodded proudly.  "And, I wagered a guess that you might like the same drink too.  Guess I was right."

Chloe took a sip of her drink and grinned at him.  "Spooky...  So, Brady, can I ask you something personal?"

"No, I've never tried to imagine you naked."

Chloe laughed and smacked him playfully on the arm.  "Well, that's not what I was going to ask, but thank you for the information.  Anyway, I'm being serious here..."

Brady stopped smiling and nodded.  "Go ahead... ask away."

"Okay, you don't have to answer it if you don't want to... but, I want to know what your mystery girl was like.  I know that she's your great lost love, but I really don't know much else about her."

Brady sighed sadly.  "Why do you want to know?  I mean, I'll answer your question, I just want to know why you're so curious about her."

Chloe shrugged.  "I don't know.  Maybe I just want to know what kind of girl gets your motor running.  You're not an easy person to get to, Brady, so I want to know what did it with this girl.  It's curiosity."

Brady looked at her suspiciously.  "You're not going to try to set me up on a blind date or something?  Because, please DON'T do that."

Chloe shook her head and laughed.  "No, I won't... I swear.  Now, tell me all about your little slice of perfection that I like to call 'mystery girl'."

Brady raised both eyebrows at once.  "Perfect?  She was hardly perfect.  But, that's what I loved about her.  Perfect is boring, and although there was nothing I would have changed about her, it was her imperfections that made her so interesting."

Chloe gave him a surprised glance.  "Really?  When you ask most people about being in love, they always tell you how wonderful and perfect their significant other is.  Not so for you?"

"No, that's not for me at all.  Nobody is perfect.  And if a guy doesn't accept you, faults and all, then he's not really loving you the way you deserve to be loved.  I never tried to change her into a different person, I just wanted her to be the best version of herself that I knew she could be.  I wanted her to shine as brightly as possible, but not for me, for HER.  Her boyfriend wasn't the same way, he just wanted her to be his own ideal of what perfect should be."

"You sure seem to know a lot about what her boyfriend apparently wanted?  You're not psychic, are you?"

Brady shook his head.  "No, but I knew the guy well enough to see him for what he was.  It was merely puppy love, he loved her but he didn't know her like I did."

Chloe nodded in understanding.  "That's a pretty powerful assumption.  So, what made you fall for her?"

"It's hard to explain.  From the day we met, there was this connection... like we had known each other for a million years.  We used to fight a lot, and say some really harsh things to each other, so it probably seemed like she'd be the last girl on earth I'd go for.  But, I only said those things to challenge her, to make her understand that she could do so much with her life if she just tried harder."

Chloe suddenly felt a chill run up her spine and she shivered.  His words sounded so familiar to her, but she was unsure as to why.  Brady noticed her movement and put an arm around her to keep her warm.

"You okay?"

Chloe nodded slowly, unsure about the words still echoing in her head.  "Yeah, just a little chill... that's all.  Keep going, please."

Brady nodded and rubbed her arm, continuing his talk, "So, we were hardly friends at first, and then we were just kinda thrown together and became friends.  We always understood each other, even from the beginning she was one of the few who has ever understood me.  The connection we had between us, I don't know, it kind of transcended even the times when we weren't getting along.  But besides that, she was a lot like you... tough on the outside, but surprisingly funny and kind too.  She would make mistakes, but pick up the pieces and figure out what she did wrong instead of continuing to make them.  But, she was pretty bad about holding a grudge..."

Brady laughed at a memory that he was keeping to himself and continued, "I think she was just learning how not to dwell on all the pain and misery when we... parted ways.  She spent a long time mulling over her hardships, but just like you, she was learning how to put them where they belong... in the past."

Chloe smiled and gazed into his blue eyes.  She was suddenly seeing something she had never seen there before.  Love was glowing in his blue eyes, he had truly loved this mystery girl, a girl whose name he could not even utter in front of her.  Chloe silently wondered why he would not say her name.  He smiled back at her and she felt something flutter in her stomach, but tried to push it away.

"Brady... I can't even imagine being loved like that.  She would have been lucky to have you."

"Too bad she didn't realize that before it was too late.  So, you're telling me that Jason didn't love you?"

Chloe thought of Phillip and shook her head sadly.  Although she would never deny that Phillip had cared about her, she now knew for sure that it wasn't the kind of love that Brady was talking about.  Phillip didn't really know the real her, he had never understood her inner conflicts, her deep thoughts, and her dreams and aspirations.  He had loved the parts of Chloe that she showed to everyone, but never bothered to look beyond that and love every part of her.  But Chloe never complained before, she didn't think it was possible to find someone to love her more than Phillip did. 

Chloe sighed as she spoke to Brady, "No, he didn't.  Not like that."

Brady still had his arm around her and used his free hand to brush a stray piece of hair from her face.  "Well, you deserve better than that.  Don't accept anything less than REAL love."

"I won't... not anymore."

Brady smiled weakly and left his hand on her cheek for a moment.  There was a long pause between them as they gazed into each other's eyes, each of them wondering what the other was thinking.  Brady broke the pause when he leaned in towards her and planted a soft kiss on her lips.  It didn't last long, but it made Chloe's chilled body tingle from head to toe.  She stared at him with wide eyes, too stunned to speak, and he replied with a grin on his face.

"Good... because if you ever sell yourself short again, I'll just have to punish you."

Chloe laughed, pushing thoughts of the kiss out of her head.  "That's so sweet... except for the punishment part."

Brady shrugged and laughed.  "Don't worry, I'd be gentle with you."

Chloe cringed in her seat as Brady moved his arm away from her back.  "I don't even wanna think about it.  Scary."

Brady stood from the bench and offered her a helping hand.  "Ready to go?"

Chloe grabbed his hand and nodded, standing from the bench quickly.  "Definitely."

They rode most of the way home quietly, Chloe tried to stare at Brady for a while and figure out what was going on inside his head.  She prayed that he wasn't trying to see her as some kind of replacement for the girl that got away.  Her head was filled with those thoughts, but deep down a new thought had begun gnawing away at her slowly.  She wondered if it was possible that she could be feeling more than friendly towards him, the feel of his lips on hers had been almost electric.  It had also been terribly confusing to her already muddled brain.

Brady dropped her off in front her house and after a quick goodbye, she hopped out and ran inside.  She quickly went upstairs and grabbed the telephone off of her night table, dialing as fast as she could.  The phone rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello..."

"Belle!  I HAVE to talk to you... RIGHT AWAY."

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